“or what quality control do you have (other than some Gnostic notion of inner spirit guiding you)”
And what “quality” control check do you have over the church’s interpretation of the truth? Is it the same “Gnostic” notion of inner spirit guiding them?
From what has been posted here, I have the impression that to belong to the Orthodox church, you must learn the original Greek language to be able to read the true scripture which only they possess. OR, you must blindly trust those who are teaching you, and believe that they are teaching you the truth.
You recognize that what the Church put together by the end of the 4th century represents the scriptures. On what do you base your trust that the Church really did put together a Christian canon that you worship?
Do you not think that the same Church whose expertise or Holy Spirit helped put together the Christian Canon is at the same time not the authority to recognize and interpret the same scriptures it has selected as Canon?
And on what do you base your insinuation that the Church somehow 'lost' that authority over time?
The quality control is contained in the liturgy that goes back practically to the beginning; the documents describing practices and beliefs; the earliest writings of Apostolic Fathers—people who were ordained by living Apostles, and all those who followed them. They all profess one and the same catholic and orthodox faith once delivered and always believed.